Jacob Chansley, also known as the QAnon Shaman, inside the Capitol on January 6.Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Jury selection started Monday in the first trial stemming from the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Potential jurors said the only rioter they specifically remembered was "QAnon Shaman" Jacob Chansley.
The judge posed questions to impanel an impartial jury for accused Capitol rioter Guy Reffitt.
On January 6, 2021, news footage captured Guy Reffitt on the steps of the US Capitol wearing a tactical vest and using a water bottle to flush pepper spray out of his eyes.
But on Monday, as jury selection began in the first trial stemming from the January 6 insurrection, residents of Washington, DC, seemed not to recognize Reffitt — a Texas man in their presence who would occasionally peel off his mask and greet them with a smile as they entered the courtroom.
Reffitt may be the first Capitol rioter to stand trial, but he's not the "shaman guy."
Potential jurors — identified Monday only by court-assigned numbers — said they followed news coverage of the January 6 attack on the Capitol but were not familiar with Reffitt or his specific case. In their memories of the insurrection, some said only one rioter stood out: the "QAnon Shaman," who paraded shirtless through the Capitol wearing furs and a horned headdress.
To one potential juror, he was the "guy with the horns." To another, "the shaman guy."
"The 'QAnon Shaman.' He's the guy I remember," said a third potential juror, who works as a program analyst at the Department of Defense.
The responses came as Judge Dabney Friedrich, along with prosecutors and Reffitt's defense lawyer, gauged the depth of potential jurors' knowledge about the January 6 attack and whether they could consider the case impartially.
After many said they were not familiar with Reffitt, Friedrich often followed up to ask whether there was any case they could recall.
Their answers underscored the extent to which "QAnon Shaman" Jacob Chansley had emerged as the poster boy of the January 6 attack. In November, Chansley was sentenced to 41 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to his role in the Capitol breach.
At the outset of Monday's jury selection, Friedrich acknowledged that no juror would come to the case as a "clean slate" given the widespread media coverage of the January 6 attack. Friedrich said jurors are not required to guarantee their impartiality but rather show an intent to consider the evidence with an open mind.
"Virtually every juror will have some view about the January 6 events, and that likely holds true about most Americans," the judge said.
Guy Reffitt seen at the Capitol siege.FBI
'Kind of unavoidable'
Reffitt, an alleged member of the far-right Three Percenters militia, stands charged with bringing a gun to the Capitol, charging at police guarding against the pro-Trump mob, and threatening his children to keep quiet about his involvement in the January 6 attack. Prosecutors plan to call Capitol police officers, FBI agents, and Reffitt's children as witnesses.
The jury selection proceedings highlighted the challenge of seating an impartial jury for a trial related to the attack on the Capitol.
Many potential jurors said they indeed have feelings about the January 6 attack.
"I think everyone should be prosecuted to the max," said one potential juror, who was quickly dismissed from consideration.
Several potential jurors said they almost couldn't help but absorb news coverage of January 6 and the more than 770 prosecutions stemming from the Capitol attack.
"Some things are kind of unavoidable, with how ubiquitous it's been," said one potential juror, who added that he tries "pretty hard to avoid the news."
That juror and several others said they have connections to the federal government and the legal industry. One potential juror described his father as a "major donor" to former President Donald Trump and said his stepmother worked in the Trump administration at the time of the January 6 attack.
Another potential juror said he was a public relations professional who has several friends who work at the Capitol in congressional offices. The juror said he "commiserated" with those friends and was "incredulous" that an associate of his helped organize the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the Capitol attack.
Asked whether he could review the case impartially, the juror answered, "I want to be candid, your honor. I don't think so. I feel very strongly about what happened."
Other potential jurors have said they live close to the Capitol and felt imperiled by the January 6 attack.
"It did feel like an attack on my home, in a sense," said one potential juror. "I didn't leave my house the day before, the day of, the day after."
Witness testimony in Reffitt's case isn't expected to begin until Tuesday or Wednesday. Friedrich said she expects testimony and arguments to conclude early next week.
As jury selection continued into the afternoon, some jurors said they were familiar with Reffitt only because of recent coverage previewing his trial.
One potential juror recalled reading a news story about what was then Reffitt's upcoming and recalled that the case involved a firearm.
